Rent Control’s Momentum
The midterms offered mixed results for affordable housing advocates. But one thing is clear: rent control is back on the agenda.
Search Result(s) for: “Los Angeles”
No Future
The only future made possible by Blade Runner 2049’s final scene is more and more Blade Runners.
Britney Spears Is Being Exploited for Profit
The exploitation and abuse of Britney Spears, justified by her legal conservatorship, is an extreme example of practices that are common in the entertainment factory.
Jessica Hopper Rescues Music From the Forces Sucking the Life Out of It
Music gives tangible shape to the best and basest in all of us. Yet under capitalism, it’s just another commodity. That artists and critics continue making and writing about music despite the industry’s vampiric drive for profit shows our stubborn unwillingness to give up a key piece of our humanity.
Trump Is Siccing Shady Private Debt Collectors on Immigrants
The Trump administration has hired a team of private debt collectors — known for widespread abuses when previously hired to collect federal student debt — to hound immigrants slapped with new multimillion-dollar civil penalties for not leaving the US.
A Vision of Neoliberalism in Flames
Gary Indiana’s essays show that history never ended as the world burned.
On the Clock and Off
As leftists debate what their labor strategy should look like, many are turning to the rank-and-file strategy. A longtime union activist reflects on a lifetime of struggle in the rank and file.
Did Bernie’s Campaign Lead to the Teachers Strikes?
Numerous factors contributed to the recent teachers’ strikes. But it is factually accurate, and strategically important, to acknowledge that Bernie Sanders was one of them.
Sara Nelson: “People Are Ready to Fight”
Sara Nelson in her own words on building a fighting labor movement, the proud history of democratic socialism in America, how workers ended the shutdown, and how they'll stop Trump, too.
Unions That Used to Strike
The ILWU, once known for its militancy and political radicalism, faces a choice between nurturing rank-and-file power and a painful death.
“The Union Has to Be About Social Justice”
Incoming LA teachers' union president Cecily Myart-Cruz was a leader of the city’s landmark 2019 strike. Now she explains why it’s important to get police out of schools and what the labor movement can do about it.
The Beijing Winter Olympics Are a Political Disaster
Liberals and leftists agree: the International Olympic Committee is a blatantly hypocritical institution bent on prioritizing profits over people worldwide. Anti-Olympics activists can use this moment to fortify their long-standing efforts against the five-ring machine.
Broken Barry
On HBO’s new tragicomedy, a veteran plumbs the depths of his combat record for the stage — but ends up painting a portrait of middle-American desolation.
Give Bus Passengers Free Hotel Stays for Long-Distance Trips
Long-distance bus travel is far less carbon-intensive than plane travel, not to mention an incredible way to see the country. But the trips often aren’t pleasant. One easy way to change that: publicly subsidize overnight lodging for bus travelers.
John Sweeney (1934–2021)
John Sweeney, who won the AFL-CIO presidency in 1995 as part of a progressive reform leadership slate called New Voice, died earlier this month at the age of eighty-six. He failed in his quest to revive the US labor movement — but he succeeded in pushing the main body of trade unionism firmly to the left.
Martial Arts in the Age of Trump
From the UFC to Hollywood, MMA and other ultra-brutal martial arts have gone mainstream — hand in hand with the rise of the far right.
West Virginia Teachers Look to Strike Again
Republican legislators are trying to crush the teachers' insurgency where it began — West Virginia. But the state's teachers are preparing to strike again to stop them.
Enemies of the Left
The FBI has historically served as a political police force, tasked not just with monitoring dissent but actively destroying it. Nowhere is that clearer than in their infiltration of the Left in the 1960s and ’70s.
The Long History of Mexican-American Radicalism
Mexican-American workers have a long tradition of radical organizing, stretching back to the days of the Industrial Workers of the World and the mid-century Communist Party. And in 1968, with a longtime Communist Chicano family at the center, Mexican-American students in LA launched the largest student walkout in US history.
Billionaire Garage Bands
Under capitalism, New York Knicks owner James Dolan can make bad music. Under socialism, we can all make bad music.